11:43 AM,
Apr. 21, 2013

Written by

Guy Rocha

March 2013 marked the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court case, Gideon v. Wainwright, requiring states to provide lawyers to poor people facing the possibility of incarceration in a criminal proceeding. Hailed as a "game changer" that radically advanced the cause of equal justice for the less fortunate in America, the Gideon case also has been derided as yet another unfunded federal mandate imposed on states and forcing local governments to spend money on "criminals." But in Nevada, neither of these positions holds true.